“ Washing one’s hands of the conflict between the powerful and the powerless means to side with the powerful, not to be neutral. ” – Paulo Freire, Educator

Where are the Latinos on Saturday Night Live?

Here's the message we sent to our members. After you've read it, please add your voice.

Only two Latino cast members in SNL’s 39 year history

Tell Lorne Michaels to hire Latinos

Dear Friend,

In the 40 years since the legendary show began, Saturday Night Live’s producers have hired only three Latino actors and zero Latino writers.1 It seems the long-running sketch comedy series has a race problem -- and that’s no joke.

At its best, SNL can be smart and funny comedy that plays an important role in reflecting American public life and shaping opinions. But 53 million Latinos live in the United States. We are the nation’s second largest ethnic group, and our role in the society will only become larger. It simply is not responsible for SNL to continue to depict American life without Latinos.

America has continued to get more and more diverse, but SNL remains stuck in the black and white era of television in the 1970s. Thankfully, a new wave of pressure from African American and Latino advocacy groups is pushing the show’s producers to acknowledge that there’s a problem.

Saturday Night Live hasn’t done much to reflect the lives of Latinos. Fred Armisen -- who is of European, Japanese, and Venezualan descent -- left the show last season, and was far more likely to portray Barack Obama than a Latino character.

The problem isn’t just with Latinos. African American groups like ColorOfChange.org have pressured Michaels to hire African American women. The pressure appears to be having an effect -- Michaels issued a response, then SNL opened a recent show with a skit that acknowledged and mocked their lack of diversity. But jokes won’t suffice -- it’s time for action.

Recently, there’s been a new wave of pressure from Latino groups who want more representation on SNL. If enough of us speak out now, we can significantly add to an atmosphere of pressure to diversify Saturday Night Live.